1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrangement and a method for storing data relating to the usage of a terminal device, particularly an arrangement and the method suitable for users of postage meter machines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Newer postage meter machines manufactured by Francotyp-Postalia AG and Co. make use of digitally functioning printing units. For example, the postage meter machines T1000 and JetMail, which are produced by Francotyp Postalia AG and Co. worldwide, include a thermotransfer printer and an ink jet printer, respectively. These basically make it possible to print addresses and other information which is associated with a shipping service on a filled envelope in the region of the postage franking stamp. Selected imprints identifying the type or form of shipment are thus printed in the franking process.
European Patent 493 948 discloses a postage meter machine which can print the type of shipment as a selected imprint stamp separate from the franking stamp imprint or integrated therewith. This device is equipped with a number of registers in a secured module for storing accounting data related to the use of the postage meter machine for franking items. A first set of registers relates to a specific first service, and a second set of registers relates to a specific second service, and one of these specific services can be selected via the input means and the accounting data of the selected service are updated. Only certain services are registered, however, these being for the purpose of generating an invoice or other type of documentation for billing for the use of the device. These services do not give the carrier sufficient information about customer behavior.
Several postal authorities/mail carriers require, or promote by cost rebates, the making of printouts by the user relating to operating sequences stored in the postage meter machine, for the documentation or bill of lading accompanying a mail batch or freight delivery, as well as to provide such information over a time period. That is, there is no need to prepare accounts, statistics or receipts related to a successful reloading for purposes of recrediting. Future mail carriers who will offer new mail delivery services would also have in interest in predicting customer behavior, as these services will have to be billed separately.
According to European Patent 285 956, a postage meter machine is equipped with a specific operating sequence storage and with a terminal for an external printer. It is required of the user to search out and print specific data from the stored, periodic collection of all data. To this end, the user must not only ready a separate printer, but may also have to set aside an extensive time outlay for searching and printing. It is additionally required on the part of the postage meter machine manufacturer to make available sufficient storage space in the postage meter machine for this purpose, so that it is possible to perform a recording with respect to the current count of a counter at suitable time intervals.
The form of storage can also be adapted to the needs of a variety of users of the same postage meter machine. Thus, some postage meter machines operate based on a classification in the form of cost centers which are allocated to individual user groups. In the T1000 postage meter machine, this acquisition is limited to ten cost centers. A method and arrangement for an internal cost center printout is described in German OS 42 24 955 for printing out corresponding reports without a separate external printer., i.e., using the printhead of the postage meter machine. The printouts that can be generated for each cost center contain listings of the postal use of the postage meter machine, and these lists can be subdivided by selected imprint. Avoidance of the need for an additional printer is advantageous to the user, but it is unreasonable to expect the user to repeatedly print out new lists with data relating to the use of the postage meter machine at the request of the courier or the data center. During the printout of lists of the cost center data, franking obviously cannot be performed using the internal printing heads of the postage meter machine.
French Patent 2 665 003 teaches a means for tracking the postal use of an electronic postage meter system that is in connection with a carrier-operated center and exchanges electronic messages therewith. Besides the message bytes, the communication format comprises information related to meter/user identification, register status, and credit status, as well as a number of additional bytes related to a statistical sequence breakdown of use. The bytes for the statistical breakdown are arranged according to postage values, to weights, or to destinations of franked items. A part of the instructions for the statistical breakdown can by modified during the communication with the center. The modification of an instruction must occur, however, before a statistical compilation is started. The communication occurs by telephone line or by an electronic module which needs to be physically transported to the communication partner. It is difficult for the data center to ascertain customer behavior, since, according to the specifications given in the instructions, only certain data are stored. Due to the variety of services, it is not always clear for which of the services the provider""s capacity must be upgraded. Moreover, outmoded telecommunication systems do not permit a high data throughput. German OS 197 31 304 (corresponding to co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/115,048 filed Jul. 14, 1998) discloses generating selectable linking instructions for the purpose of class formation in the data center, and transferring them to the postage meter machine in the form of new statistics instruction data. The formation of a new statistical mode occurs in the potage meter machine on the basis of the new statistics instruction data and chronologically before the use of functions and services and their statistical acquisition in the memory of the postage meter machine. An advantage is the low demand for storage space due to a pre-compressing of the data which can be achieved by the linkage. It is also advantageous that a transmission of pre-compressed data to the data center does not significantly interfere with franking usage (service mode) since this transmission only requires a small amount of time. From this data pre-compression, much can be learned about specific user behavior, but little about basic user behavior. Otherwise, the statistical compilation would have to be conducted rather extensively, which causes a higher demand for storage space. It is thus still necessary to set certain limitations. European Application 717 376 discloses a postage meter machine with a statistical program, with the transmission of statistical data to the data center by modem taking place and wherein parameters in the postage meter machine for the statistical data acquisition are modifiable by downloading new parameters from the data center for defining the statistical class boundaries. The possibilities for carrying out a statistical analysis are limited to postage value classes, however.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and arrangement for optimal storage of data in a terminal device and rapid communication to a remote data center, wherein the statistical acquisition is able to achieve a maximum extent, so that instructions from the data center for storage can be omitted.
It is a further object to make usage of the terminal device in a service mode possible without the interference by the storage and transmission of usage data.
The above object is achieved in accordance with the principles of the present invention in a method and an arrangement for storing data relating to usage of a terminal device, wherein the terminal device includes a microprocessor and a memory, and wherein the terminal device also includes a statistical memory for storing usage data in statistical classes, the microprocessor being connected to the statistical memory as well as to a program memory, and wherein the microprocessor is programmed to automatically transmit data to a remote data center when the statistical memory is full.
The above object is also achieved in a method and an arrangement for storing data relating to usage of a terminal device, wherein the terminal device includes a memory and microprocessor, and wherein the terminal device includes a statistical memory for storing the usage data in statistical classes, and wherein the microprocessor is connected to the statistical memory and to a program memory, the microprocessor being programmed for automatically forming classes in the statistical memory by making entries in the statistical memory dependent on the count of a counter for each statistical class. By storing the statistical information in classes respectively represented by different counter counts, memory space is conserved.
Since there are no instructions from the data center for limiting the data storage, the terminal device has a program in the program memory for storing current use data with automatic class formation for the statistical acquisition and for transmitting them to a remote data center when the statistical memory is full.
The invention is based on the availability of economical storage units with a very high storage capacity, in order to statistically acquire usage data of a system. The usage data relate to information about characteristics of a system or features of a system device which are selected by the user. The mail handling the shipping of packages by a public or private mail carrier is only one possible type of service of a service operation. A xe2x80x9cshipping system devicexe2x80x9d refers to a terminal which is remote from the service provider, or to a terminal device of a postage meter machine which is located at the customer. xe2x80x9cCharacteristics of the shipping systemxe2x80x9d, or xe2x80x9ccharacteristics of the shipping system devicexe2x80x9d refer to specific user inputs and specific automatically performed inputs associated with the request that a customer places with the service provider. For an efficient management of storage space occupied by usage data, the storage capacity of the statistical memory can be optimized, i.e. it can be made smaller than in known devices which store usage information merely in historical classes. Given the exhausting of the currently available storage capacity, the storage capacity can be increased; that is, the terminal or the device of a postage meter machine can be operated for a longer time before a communication with the data center is required. Shortly before or consequent to a memory overflow of the statistical memory, the stored data are loaded into a memory of the data center. Based on the enhanced capabilities of communication with a high baud rate, the communication requires relatively little time to transmit all data from the terminal device to the data center. Given the successful data transmission from the statistical memory to the remote memory of the data center, the original storage capacity can be reestablished by clearing the statistical memory.
In particular, the terminal device is a postage meter machine, a device of a franking and/or mail processing system, a PC postage meter or some kind of peripheral device of a system which itself performs a service, or permits the use of the service of a third party. A recording relating to individual events of the usage is created in a corresponding service mode. The user information preferably characterizes or flags the postal usage of the postage meter machine or of a franking system. The franking mode inventively includes a statistical mode with automatic class formation for storage of the current usage information. During operation, or as a result of operation in the franking mode, the postage metering machine judiciously stores usage information that corresponds to the current user behavior. A new class is automatically generated and a new record is stored if it is not possible to allocate the current usage information to an existing class. If a corresponding class for usage information has already been generated, to which the current usage information can be allocated, then an entry or occurrence counter which belongs to the class is merely incremented, and the new count number is stored in the existing record. The transmission of the data record to the data center occurs automatically in a timed manner or given an overflowing of the statistical memory.
The transmission occurs by modem and a data compression is performed in the transmission.